Herald and
Journal, July 1, 2002

Winsted, Lester escape a worse fate

By Ryan Gueningsman

Communities in our area experienced record rain-falls Monday
night into Tuesday morning.

"We're just thankful for all the volunteers and the
fire department helping out with things, and the guys from our maintenance
department ­ Damon Thompson and David Meyer ­ working through the
night to make sure all our pumps were working, and helping people with water
in their basements," Winsted City Administrator Brent Mareck said.

Winsted Lake also rose, he said.

"We had probably a handful of calls from residents
in Winsted with water in their basements ­ it was nothing to say we
had a crisis or anything like that.

"It was a long night, though, Monday for a lot of
people," Mareck said.

Although Winsted and Lester Prairie were hit hard, Silver
Lake and Hutchinson were also pounded with the heavy rains.

"I know that we had some damage with people and water
in their basements, and things like that," McLeod County Sheriff Wayne
Vinkemeier said.

"We've had quite a bit of rainfall in the area over
the past week or so, and in regards to the last rainfall Monday night, I
think at that time we had between 5-6 inches of rain across McLeod County,"
McLeod County Emergency Management Director Kevin Mathews said.

The ground was already saturated from the rain the previous
week, it really had no where to go, he said.

"In the City of Lester Prairie, they sand-bagged three
houses Wednesday, and there were several roads closed due to water over
them," Mathews said.

Lester Prairie had one residence that was flooded at Babcock
Avenue, but that home has since been sandbagged, as well as two other homes,
City Clerk Marilyn Pawelk said.

The Lester Prairie police, fire, city maintenance department,
some county highway maintenance people, and some volunteers all helped with
the sandbagging efforts.

"We've had a few other homes in town that we've been
told of water running in ­ but it's not because of flooding and groundwater,
it's seeping in because the ground is so saturated," Pawelk said.

"It was small compared to other situations ­ but
to the people that were affected by it ­ it was major," she said.